If you’re keen on the ways of the music world, you may be interested: Metallica’s new album, Death Magnetic, will be released in its entirety on Guitar Hero III this friday. It’ll also have full compatibility with the upcoming Guitar Hero: World Tour on all instruments, and will feature two exclusive renditions of the song “Suicide and Redemption” featuring extended solos. It’ll cost $17.99 on PSN or 1440 MS Points, though I would hope they might offer it for free to people who blew money on St. Anger. If you haven’t heard the new songs yet, they’re actually a pretty good throwback to the “...And Justice For All” days, though perhaps not to the stuff they wrote before bassist Cliff Burton succumbed to a bad case of being crushed by a tour bus. Check out the full press release after the break.

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What is it about the last Friday of the month that inspires nationwide frenzy and anticipation? On June 26 it was the iPhone’s debut, this July 27 it’s “The Simpsons Movie”. The past few weeks have been heaven for fans of the series, with a publicity juggernaut that includes turning 7-Eleven’s into exact Kwik-E-Mart replicas and even being able to Simpsonize yourself online. Now comes the Limited Edition soundtrack, which is not only scored by prolific Oscar-winner Hans Zimmer, but is packaged in a Homer-tastic plastic donut with pink frosting and sprinkles. We absolutely love it. They’re currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com for $21 USD, and will ship July 31. We highly suspect this one will sell out fast.

Like seemingly every other game on the market, Rockstar’s GTA IV will be releasing a special edition of the game, which will retail for $89.99. That’s a whole $30 more than the standard game, so there must be something in there to really make it worthwhile, right?

Well, that all depends on your ability to care about what is, for the most part, some worthless junk. Those three extra Hamiltons will land you a metal case, some special packaging, a soundtrack CD with exclusive tracks, a keychain, a customized Rockstar Games duffle bag, a behind-the-scenes art book and, of course, a copy of GTA IV. No special in-game treatment for you special edition owners out there.

$90 is a whole lot to ask for what boils down to a CD, art book, and metal case. With Halo 3’s Legendary Edition priced at $129.99, just how high can the price go on these special/collector’s editions? And when you factor in the already-promised downloadable content for the game, diehard GTA fans will be forking over quite the load of cash this October.